F/W 2011/2012 in a Japanese View - Junya Watanabe

Friday, 30 September 2011

Today we're going to make a trip into Asian fashion, more exactly into the Ready-to-Wear F/W 2011/2012 collection of Junya Watanabe. Maybe many of you wonder why didn't i chose Kenzo, or who is Junya Watanabe. Well I really didn't like Kenzo's collection, too many prints, too southern looks, too much brown, so for me it's a no. Now, why Junya Watanabe, well because he's different, because of his very technical and tailored collections and avantgarde looks, but mostly because he's asian and you can see that in his creations, after all this is a travel into Asian fashion.

For this season the designer had in mind a very structured, dark and boyish collection, in my opinion, dominated by leather, and mostly by the leather jackets in various forms. As you'll see in the pictures it resembles greatly with the look adopted by the japanese visual key bands this year (visual key is a style of rock in Japan, for more google it) and also with the type of clothes that Japanese street fashion lovers just adore. There's a bit of a tribal look in the collection (maybe inspired by the asian tribes) in a punk atmosphere combined with traditional japanese elements (taken from the famous kimono). We'll se some oversized dresses, many layers , a typical japanese style.

Again the collection is dominated by the black colour with a tiny bit of grey, brown and some leopard print for the fur collars.

For the fabrics, leather primarily, fur, knitwear and some cotton (after all is a Japanese designer, he needs a traditional fabric).

Regarding the clothes, the main trend that Watanabe launches with this collection is the leather jacket in different forms, from the very tailored jackets to kimono like jackets. As leather being the main fabric, it's not used only for the jackets, but also for the tunics and blouses, pants and even for the dresses, but in a softer version. The jackets are worn with short and medium pleated skirts with black tights and flat boots or military boots and the blouses and leather tunics and also the knitwear ones are worn with 3/4 leather pants or tights. There are some fur coats, fur collars worn with oversized soft leather dresses, and also some fur medium skirts.

At the end I like this collection, there are many looks that I would love to wear, and I see it as a success.